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Thursday, July 26, 2012

U-CVS-LA?

Why does the item below make me nervous?  From the LA Times (excerpt):

UCLA doctors to oversee 11 CVS in-store clinics: Doctors will serve as medical directors for 11 CVS MinuteClinics in Los Angeles County through an agreement with UCLA Health System.

Pharmacy giant CVS Caremark Corp. and UCLA Health System are teaming up to treat patients in 11 in-store clinics in Los Angeles County as one remedy to a growing shortage of primary care physicians. Under this arrangement, UCLA physicians will serve as medical directors overseeing 11 CVS MinuteClinics and the two entities will share electronic medical records.

…Drugstore chains and major retailers are opening more of these walk-in clinics to capitalize on the influx of newly insured patients under the Affordable Care Act. …A study by Rand Corp., a nonprofit think tank in Santa Monica, found these clinics provide care at 30% to 40% lower cost than similar care provided at a physician's office and that the care provided for routine illnesses was of similar quality. But some physicians express concern about these clinics treating more patients with chronic and often serious illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension.


What could possibly go wrong?

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